


The Debut of the Clockwork Princess

by Eclectic80



Category: Girl Genius
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-23
Updated: 2016-07-23
Packaged: 2018-07-26 08:05:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7566544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eclectic80/pseuds/Eclectic80
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The opera version of events at Sturmhalten.  With Sparks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Act 1

**Author's Note:**

> All characters are property of the Foglios.
> 
> Setting: Indefinite future. Tarvek has revived Anevka and they've reconciled. Mostly.

The new opera house in Sturmhalten was a delight to the senses, sparkling with gilt and crystal, trimmed in velvet and rare polished woods, and humming with the voices of hundreds of Europa’s elite. The grand opera The Clockwork Princess was debuting at the new venue, and everyone important in eastern Europa was present to mark the occasion.

A wave of interest washed through the crowd as the royal party reached their box. Tarvek Sturmvoraus, Storm King and reigning Prince of Balan’s Gap, and his sister Anevka Sturmvoraus, architect of the opera house and planner behind the reconstruction of Sturmhalten, acknowledged the crowd and seated themselves. While Anevka was no longer technically a princess, due to having been publicly and famously brought back from the dead, she retained her title as a courtesy and her power by her brother’s appointment. When Agatha Heterodyne, the Lady Heterodyne, seated herself next to Tarvek in the royal box, the crowd’s murmurs intensified. The Sturmhalten royals and the new Heterodyne were the best things to have happened to the world of gossip in a generation. With this opera ostensibly based on their story, everyone wanted to see how they were going to react. The only thing that could make the show any better would have been if the new Baron Wulfenbach had been in attendance as well. The two men’s ongoing efforts to woo the Heterodyne and her refusal to marry either of them scandalized and delighted all of Europa. Sturmhalten’s romantic young ladies sighed over Tarvek’s grand romantic gestures and declared that if they were in Agatha’s shoes, they would have said yes long ago. Practical matrons cheered Agatha’s resolution, firmly believing that the city was safer with the Heterodyne as far away as possible and hoping that if Tarvek gave up on her, he’d choose a wife closer to home. When the women weren’t listening, men of all ages agreed that the Heterodyne was worth the effort. Nobody in Sturmhalten rooted for Baron Wulfenbach.

"So tell me again why Gil isn’t here tonight?" Violetta asked Agatha once everyone was settled.<

"An emergency meeting with the local Corbettite chapter, theoretically. I strongly suspect he suggested it to get out of 'three hours of caterwauling and upset Sturmvoraus,' as he put it. He can never take high drama very seriously. But it's probably for the best tonight - Tarvek is in no mood to be competing for my attention." She eyed Tarvek sideways, tallying up how many glasses of champagne he’d been through since they left the castle.

Violetta smirked. "Your attention. Right."

Agatha smacked her on the shoulder. "You've been spending too much time with Zeetha. But seriously, this is going to open a lot of old wounds." While Tarvek was distracted by Anevka, Agatha hid his champagne glass. She wasn’t particularly worried about the content of the play, being intimately acquainted with the liberties art can take with history in search of a better story, but she could tell that Tarvek was very nervous. Anevka had commissioned the opera not knowing that Tarvek was still so sensitive about his part in the events. Given that not attending wasn’t an option and Anevka wouldn’t let him interfere with the authors, he was fortifying himself with champagne.

Conversations trickled to a halt as the orchestra tuned up and began to play. The overture boded well for the quality of the work, being sweet and tempestuous by turns, and marred only by one violin with one string slightly out of tune. Agatha and Tarvek winced in time with the music. Barely breaking rhythm, the conductor pointed her baton at the hapless violinist and all his strings instantly dissolved into dust. This was a fairly normal occurrence with the more benign Spark conductors - with some the incident would have been fatal.

The curtains pulled back to reveal a courtyard within Sturmhalten Castle. The Princess, representing Anevka, entered with four purple-cloaked bodyguards. Seeing the courtyard empty, she declared she would sit and read, dismissing all but one whom the program listed as Veilchen. The real Veilchen, nearly invisible in the back of the royal box, snorted at the handsome but somewhat fleshy tenor playing him.

As soon as the courtyard was clear, the Princess and the Bodyguard moved into an embrace and a passionate lover’s duet. Tarvek stopped breathing and looked at Anevka. Her mouth was hanging open, all dignity forgotten. He looked back for Veilchen's reaction. There was no knowing whether Veilchen’s mouth was open, but he was crimson to the top of his head. Tarvek nudged Agatha to show her, but she was listening to the song and shrugged him off. The singers were well-matched, and the duet was very romantic. Tarvek settled for taking Agatha’s hand.

With a crash of cymbals and drums, the Ruler, a good likeness of Prince Aaronev, and his entire retinue, including a red-headed Prince, stormed into the courtyard. The Bodyguard was detained by the other Smoke Knights, and the Princess was dragged off by her father, through a cunning scene change, to the castle chapel. The chapel’s centerpiece was a chillingly familiar chair - Tarvek felt Agatha shiver and squeezed her hand in reassurance - and all the pipes and crystals of the Summoning Machine. A trio commenced with the Ruler accusing the Princess of conspiring against him, and the Prince and Princess begging for mercy. The Ruler forced the Princess into the chair, promising to sacrifice his lying daughter to bring back the Other.

Tarvek looked over at Anevka, then reached and took her hand too. She whispered “is that really how it went?”

He whispered back, “More or less. Father sounded even crazier. I'm so sorry I couldn't stop him.” Anevka waved off the apology, having heard it in hundreds of variations before. Trying to make Anevka smile, Tarvek dryly added “I assume you don’t mean the smooching the bodyguards, because I know you know better.” Anevka’s hesitation before the desired smile materialized made him re-think that statement. He was going to have to check some sources. Dead people don’t accumulate a lot of misdeeds, so his file on her was still uncomfortably thin, and any bit of potential leverage was precious. Just because he loved his sister didn’t make her any less dangerous.

The machine activated with a roar of flash-powder and electric arcs, and the audience cowered in their seats. The Princess gracefully slumped in the Summoning Machine chair, at which the Ruler cursed the heavens at length in chest-rattling bass and left the room. The Prince stroked his sister’s cheek, lifted her up, and carried her off through another fluid scene change to his lab. While he worked, a ballet troupe of Muses spiraled and pirouetted across the stage. The lead Muse, clearly meant to be Tinka, froze next to where the Prince was working. He looked at her, and the two of them placed the Princess in an ornate box. After only a few seconds, the Clank Princess emerged from the wings looking like a Muse herself and joined the swirl of the ballet. When the dance finished, the curtain fell for the end of Act 1.

Agatha commented “I’d like to see how they staged those scene changes. Master Payne would have really enjoyed that last part.”

Anevka turned around and looked for Veilchen, but he’d summoned another Smoke Knight to take his place and left the room. His replacement was vague about where he might have gone, but couldn't stop smirking.

Tarvek watched the audience shifting and murmuring. So many of Sturmhalten’s residents had died in the war that the new population was largely made up of newly-minted aristocrats who’d inherited titles they didn’t know they were in line for, inventors and investors drawn in by Anevka’s redevelopment plan, and the thousands of workers required to rebuild an entire city. Most of the people in the audience had been living elsewhere during Prince Aaronev’s reign, and many of them were just now realizing that they didn’t know the Prince’s attitude toward his father, and whether they should be booing him or cheering. Tarvek didn’t want to boo or cheer. He didn’t want to be there at all. He retrieved his glass from where Agatha had hidden it, and poured himself another glass of champagne.


	2. Act 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The opera continues, much to Tarvek's dismay.

Act 2 opened with a chorus of Smoke Knights on stage. There was a titter from one of the knights in the back of the royal box, quickly quashed by a punch from another. As the chorus flowed through an intricately choreographed sparring sequence, they complained that the Ruler and the Prince had retreated to their respective labs, leaving their bodyguards very bored. People were disappearing from the castle, and everyone suspected the Princess. The Clank Princess entered the room, and the chorus scattered, leaving only the Bodyguard. He initiated a reprise of their earlier duet, but the tune changed as the Clank Princess turned her back on him and ordered him to guard the door. The end of the song, as the Bodyguard formally bowed and silently slipped into the shadows by the door, had Agatha and Anevka in sniffles.

Violetta was unmoved. "What did he think he was going to do with her?"

Tarvek whispered back "Don't think about it too hard. You really don’t want to know. I heard stories in Paris. . . "

In an abrupt change of mood, the orchestra broke into a boisterous dance and a circus troupe bounded on stage. There were far more acrobats than Master Payne would have put up with, but their tricks were astounding. There were midgets and magicians and even a dancer with green hair, although Zeetha would have been disappointed by her double’s sword dance. The Ruler laughed at the performance and gleefully sprayed the stage with blanks from his machine gun. Agatha considered it a good sign that Anevka had left the weaponry out of the opera house box design - any evidence of Anevka not taking after her father was a relief. The Actress meant to be Agatha made her debut in a homage to the well-known comic opera “Revenge of the Jagerduck.” Agatha missed the Heterodyne story connection, but acknowledged that The Socket Wench of Prague was probably a bit crass for grand opera and the sack race scene from “Jagerduck” did fit the spectacle of the opera better.

A cunning trio interweaved the Actress’ victory song with the Ruler crowing about having found the woman he’d been searching for and the Prince trying to restrain his father. As the Ruler became more and more ecstatic, the Actress and Prince dropped out, ending the song on a beautiful and chilling note.

The Prince escorted the Actress to dinner at the castle. The actress’ voice was lovely, but her acting consisted almost entirely of broad flirtation and the flaunting of cleavage. The royal box having a particularly advantageous angle on said cleavage, Tarvek was thoroughly enjoying the sight, which got him an elbow in the ribs from Agatha. He jumped, startled, then smiled at Agatha and focused back on the stage. That smile made it impossible to stay annoyed at him, and he knew it. Even tipsy, Tarvek never showed that trusting smile to anyone else.

When Agatha looked back at the stage, she regretted that she hadn’t stayed distracted a few minutes longer. The Ruler was placing the now-drugged Actress into the Summoning Engine, the Prince again helplessly begging him not to do it. As the orchestra reached a thunderous chord, the Princess stepped forward and placed her hands on her father’s head. Flames leapt, and he crumpled to the ground. The siblings then argued as the Actress burbled on in counterpoint, and the Princess activated the machine herself. Tarvek and Anevka both shifted, ready to protest. Arcs and flash-powder rocked the stage again, and the Actress slumped in the chair. The Princess untied her, and she slowly rose, singing quietly at first but crescendoing into a triumphant solo. The devil had been summoned, the Other returned. The spotlight cut out and the curtain dropped on an ominous minor chord.

The royal box erupted in argument. “Wait, now this is my fault? I thought we were trying to keep her out of the machine?” complained Anevka.

“I can vouch for that - you did try to kill me,” replied Agatha cheerfully.

“I tried to get you out of town,” offered Tarvek. “It’s not my fault you let the Geisters out.”

“I know that,” Agatha said, and kissed his cheek. Fans in all the facing boxes fluttered as everyone reveled in the Heterodyne being inappropriate in public again.

“Grandmother is just going to love the Smoke Knight chorus. I wish I could see her face when she sees them,” snickered Violetta. None of the other Smoke Knights responded, as interacting with the traitor Violetta was strictly forbidden, but smiles were only half-suppressed in agreement.


	3. Act 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The opera approaches its dramatic climax.

When the curtain rose for the third act, a battle was in progress in the city sewers. The monsters were eating Smoke Knights, the Smoke Knights were killing monsters, the Clank Princess was fleeing for her life, and the Bodyguard was trying to keep everyone from finding her. Even the Prince made a brief appearance, rallying the Smoke Knights. Most of the monsters were clockwork created for the stage, but one giant wolf-crab-human construct with a stunning baritone voice was an audience favorite. The scene where he was bound and killed by four Smoke Knights received a standing ovation.

After the Princess escaped, the smoke cleared to reveal a lab where the Prince and the Other were working. The Prince assisted the Other and acceded to her every demand, and he was as startled as the audience when the Other swooned and woke up as the Actress. The actress managed the transition surprisingly well, her posture and even her accent changing completely. The Prince rejoiced, professed love for the Actress, and they segued into a brief romantic duet.

Anevka watched Tarvek and Agatha. Agatha showed no particular reaction, just watching with her usual intensity. Tarvek colored slightly and darted a look at Agatha, then a suspicious frown at Anevka. She returned an "I tried" shrug. She'd had the authors put this duet in specifically, hoping to do her brother a good turn, but Agatha didn’t seem to be getting the message. This whole opera was not going how she planned.

The happy moment was interrupted as the Other reemerged while the Prince wasn’t looking. Delighted, the Other circled him sensually, debating in song what to do with him.

Tarvek sighed in resignation and commented, “Once, just once I get carried away and nobody will ever let me live it down. And I didn’t get a love duet first.”

On stage, the Other’s final disposition of the Prince was left a dramatic mystery, and the scene changed to a dark secretive corner of the castle. The Prince and the Bodyguard furtively entered the stage from opposite sides The Prince informed the Bodyguard that the Princess had raised an army and gave him the key to let her into the castle.

There followed another battle scene with the Prince and the Other trapped by the Clank Princess and her peasant army, then the peasants surrounded by the Smoke Knights. The peasants were killed, then the Princess did something that set off another bang and the Smoke Knights collapsed. Only the Princess, the Prince, and the Other were left standing.

“I’m not sure what just happened there,” confessed Anevka. "I have explosives?"

“Me neither,” agreed Tarvek. "The story makes less and less sense. I mean, whose side am I even on?"

Violetta reached around Agatha and smacked Tarvek’s head affectionately. “This is what it’s like being around you.”

The Clank Princess and the Other started a duel with swords, but the Other was quickly disarmed. The Princess was just about to finish the Other off when the Prince threw himself in front of her and hit a switch to shut her down.

Tarvek snorted dismissively. “As if I'd do that when I had a remote override. My way was so much more elegant.”

The Prince convinced the Other to repair the Summoning Machine by pretending to reciprocate her advances. Tarvek gagged in sympathy. The traditional “mad scene” followed, as the two disassembled and reassembled the machine. The Other thrilled triumphantly about how she would create an army of herself, but was surprised as the Prince and the Bodyguard double-crossed her, strapped her into the chair, and reactivated the machine. When the smoke cleared, the Actress and the Prince had a touching duet.

Tarvek smiled sappily at Agatha as their on-stage doubles kissed, and Agatha removed his champagne glass again. Tipsy Tarvek was enough out of the ordinary - she really didn't want to spend the night dealing with Drunk Tarvek. Gil had warned her about how verbose Tarvek’s hangover sufferings were. She handed the glass to Violetta, who made it disappear more thoroughly than Agatha could.

Back on stage, the Prince had retrieved the Princess’ real body from its hiding place and replaced the Summoning Machine chair with a well-equipped slab, while the orchestra played a reprise of the Muses’ Act 1 ballet. The Bodyguard tenderly placed the Princess’ body on the slab. The machine activated a final time, but the Princess lay there motionless. The Bodyguard kissed her tenderly, and she woke and embraced him. The four principals sang a joyful finale as they destroyed the Summoning Machine, and the curtain came down.

The audience burst into enthusiastic applause, but Agatha was the only one in the royal box clapping.

Anevka looked at Tarvek. “Are you sure you can’t be the kind of king who has playwrights put to death? Just this once?”

Tarvek looked down at the stage ruefully. “Nobody would blame me, but yes, I’m sure. We need this to be a success. I do hope Veilchen realizes that, wherever he went.”

Agatha dissolved into giggles. “You should see your faces!”

Both royals turned to face her. “This doesn’t bother you at all?” asked Tarvek incredulously.

Agatha wiped a tear of laughter from her eye. “I played my own mother in The Socket Wench of Prague, as I suspect you remember. This, while historically inaccurate and narratively questionable, had better music and far fewer pies. You got to be the hero and save everyone, Anevka got to be Sleeping Beauty, and my Jagers will call this hilarious payback for Veilchen leaving them in a hole. I thoroughly enjoyed it! Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to go have a little professional chat with my doppelganger down there.” She pulled a rope gun out of her cloak and swung over the edge of the box on her way to the stage. Violetta huffed, “I thought I took that away from her!” then followed a half a second behind Agatha, gown flapping behind her.

“I should probably be appalled, but I’m finding myself hoping that she makes enough of a scene that everyone forgets we were even here,” said Tarvek, watching them go.

“Oh no, you don’t get out that easily, O Storm King,” commanded Anevka. "You are going downstairs with me. You will gush about the opera to the representatives of both newspapers, you will flirt shamelessly with the Italian Ambassadress, and you will shake hands with the composer. I will be listening, and there will be no double meanings, no veiled insults, and no changing the subject, or over breakfast tomorrow the Lady Heterodyne will get the full story of how Father tried to cure you of wetting the bed.”

Tarvek twitched. Anevka found stories of their horrific childhood an endless source of low humor and leverage over him. He dreaded the day when she actually needed something substantial from him and wasn’t just needling him for the fun of it. Agatha was always very understanding, but they just weren’t things he wanted her thinking about, especially as they could cast serious doubt on his suitability as a father. Be that as it may, he was keeping score. Someday there would be someone Anevka would want to impress (he lived in hope) and he would have his chance.

“Well then, let Us make Our appearance.” Anevka rolled her eyes at the ostentatious majestic plurals. Tarvek held out his arm for his sister, and they left the box.

**Author's Note:**

> Archived from Livejournal. Thanks to lightningnettle there who beta-read it back in 2012.


End file.
